Hi, FanFiction Members! I'm HollowKU ready for the next chapter of The Parallel Challenger! Sorry for the late update, but I've been really busy at college. Fortunately, I finally had my final exams (at least the IMPORTANT ones XD), so maybe I'll have more free time to post the chapters more frequently. I think. I hope XD
Anyway, like the last chapter I would like to thank everyone that is following the story and like how it is going. I'm glad that you liked the last chapter. I'll keep up the good work for you, my dear readers. Well, with no more interruptions, here's the new chapter!
Pokémon: The Parallel Challenger
Chapter 8: Falling
"Ok, Sceptile! Use Leaf Blade!"
"Sceptile!" With an unbelievable speed, Sceptile ran towards Blastoise, as his leafs in his arms formed two shining green blades.
"..." Red stayed in silence as he looked with his Pokémon with a smile. "This is just beginning, other me..."
Sceptile reached the point where Blastoise was really fast, who just stayed in his position. The lizard Pokémon then took this opportunity and gave the Water-type a big slash directly on its chest.
"Yes! Direct hit!" Ash said as he looked at his Pokémon. "Continue attacking!"
"Sceptile!"
The lizard nodded and, with a strong determination, continued slashing his opponent with his grass-type attack. Hit after hit, Blastoise received the constant attack from the green lizard standing still. Everyone could see that luck was apparently on Ash's side.
However, after a few attacks, something started bothering Ash: how Red reacted. And why was that? Because THAT was missing. There was absolutely NO reaction from the Kanto Champion.
"Red..." The aspiring Pokémon Master wondered why Red had been quiet from the beginning from the battle while looking at him.
"..." The silent Red just looked back at his counterpart. A smile invaded the trainer's face.
"Could it be...? No way!" Ash realized his mistake and quickly gave his Pokémon his next order. "Sceptile, back off!"
"Scep!"
As Sceptile returned to his trainer's side, everyone saw that the marks that were done by Sceptile in Blastoise's chest were barely visible. Just miserable scratches. The Water-type grinned at the green lizard, who replied with a piercing glare.
"What the...?"
"Hmph. Such attacks won't work on Blastoise." Red replied with a calmed voice. "Flash Cannon..."
"Blastoise!"
With an incredible speed, Blastoise pointed at Sceptile and shot two energy spheres that eventually became one and headed right to where Ash's Pokémon was.
"Sceptile, dodge!" Ash ordered.
Sceptile nodded, and with also an amazing speed, he dodged the attack. However, it was barely dodged. A few inches and its left arm would have received the whole shot.
"So fast!" Ash was surprised by the speed of his opponent.
"Blastoise!" The Water-type cursed the lizard's speed, but realized that it was a lucky shot that he evaded the attack.
"That was close. Sceptile, use Agility and charge at Blastoise!"
"Sceptile!"
The Pokémon obeyed and, in a blink of an eye, charged at full speed at the turtle Pokémon. Blastoise prepared for the impact, and by using his own body, he charged at the lizard. Unfortunately for him, Ash had his own plan. With an amazing ability, Sceptile surrounded Blastoise without any effort and was now looking at his back and preparing to attack. He jumped and prepared to attack from the air.
"Now! Leaf Storm!"
The lizard nodded, and a tornado of leaves were formed from Sceptile's back and hit directly at the turtle's face and body. An attack with that distance was intended to make it more powerful and devastating. The turtle Pokémon groaned in pain as he backed down, showing that the attack took him by surprise.
"Hpmh..."
A smile could be seen in Red's face. That could only mean that everything was meaningless. The turtle, who apparently had been affected by the lizard's attack, returned to his battle position with a big grin on his face, pointing his back cannons right at him, who was still on the air.
"Hydro Cannon..."
Two giant water spheres formed at Blastoise's cannons and shot the massive attack directly at the lizard. Sceptile was too close to evade the attack, so he crossed his arms in a defensive pose and received the whole shot, trying to handle it with all his might. Unfortunately, the attack was way more powerful than he thought, and he was sent flying to the forest near the lab, colliding with lots of trees.
"Sceptile!" The Pokémon yelled in pain as he tried to recover from the hit.
"Sceptile are you ok?" Ash was worried about his Pokémon's condition.
"Scep...tile" With all the pride he had, Sceptile nodded, but his face showed otherwise.
Meanwhile with the others...
"That Blastoise sure has a hard defense! He managed to receive Sceptile's attack like if it was nothing!" Max noticed.
"And he's not an average Blastoise. My own Blastoise also has Hydro Cannon, the most powerful water type attack, but that Hydro Cannon was far more powerful than anything I have seen before." Gary remarked. "It seems like each of Red's Pokémon had managed to achieve the highest stats of their power."
"You're right, Gary. But there is one more thing that must be noticed." Prof. Oak nodded to himself as he looked at the powerful water-type. "All of Red's Kanto starters have a unique skill in battle."
"What do you mean, professor?" Everyone wondered what the well-known researcher meant.
"Charizard, Venusaur and Blastoise. Each Pokémon has showed to have a powerful skill. Charizard and his powerful fire-type attacks, Venusaur and his amazing abilities to counter moves, and now Blastoise with a defense that can handle even super-effective moves. If it's that way, it could be that every Pokémon in Red's team has a unique ability..."
Returning to the battle...
"Crap. Red's Blastoise is sure giving me a hard time. How I will handle something that resists almost every attack I launch at him?"
"Flash Cannon..."
"Sceptile, dodge it!"
Without hesitating, Red ordered to his Pokémon to continue his attack at the lizard. Sceptile, still affected by the attack, managed to get up and used the tree behind him to get speed and dodge the attack.
"Impressive. A Pokémon would normally take more time to recover after such attack." Red noticed. "Your Pokémon has a big resolve."
"If things keep up like this, Sceptile won't make it..." Ash thought as he tried to look for a new strategy. "But how are we able to make damage if Blastoise doesn't feel it?"
"Sceptile!" Ash's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his Pokémon, who was smiling, showing that the battle was far from over for him. "Sceptile!" The Pokémon tried to catch his trainer's attention.
"What is it?" Ash asked as he saw his Pokémon's head pointing at a specific direction. The trainer looked there and saw the opportunity he had been searching. The key for his victory.
The forest.
"Ok! It's time to speed things up a bit, Red!" Ash said with a smile in his face. "Sceptile, to the forest!"
"Sceptile!" The Pokémon nodded, glad that his trainer understood his hint, as he ran to the woods, with Ash following him behind.
"Hpmh. Change of battlefield, huh?" Red grinned as he hopped to his Pokémon's back. "Use Hydro Pump..."
The Pokémon nodded and rapidly hided his legs, arms and head inside his massive shell. This was followed by the powerful water-type move that came out of his cannons. The force of the attack was similar to a jet, making the Pokémon a flying transporter. The Kanto Champion pointed at the forest, and a second later, his Pokémon obeyed and started following his opponent's track.
Now both contenders had disappeared within the deeps of the woods, leaving the audience behind.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Brock sighed. As the referee, he had to check how the battle went, but it was too late for him to follow them.
"What just happened?" Dawn asked with a confused look.
"Heh. It's seems that Ash has finally took things under his control." The young Oak researcher smiled, replying to Dawn's answer.
"A clever idea indeed. Ash has remembered that Sceptile's true environment resides in the woods. Sceptile can move freely and even faster when he's there, meanwhile Blastoise will suffocate due to the number of trees within the forest. Blastoise's will have trouble at attacking correctly, and Ash's going to use that advantage to overcome the situation." Prof. Oak analyzed. "However, Blastoise's defense worries me. Ash will need to use the environment to its fullest if he truly wants to win this battle."
"This will be troublesome for both Pokémon." May said, looking at the forest while holding her hand tightly near her chest. "Be careful, Sceptile...the one who represents both me and Max's bonds with Ash..."
In the forest...
The woods were his opponent's territory, so he had to be extremely careful when looking for them. These were the thoughts that invaded the Kanto Champion as he adventured within the deeps of the forest, on top of his Blastoise, searching for his counterpart. He looked in every corner he managed to see with his sight. It wasn't difficult for him, though. After training in a place such as Mt. Silver's top, seeing within the woods was as easy as taking on a Gym Leader. At least for him.
*bush*
"Blastoise, stop right here..." Red said to his Pokémon as he jumped from his back and landed on a rock.
The Pokémon obeyed and stopped his water-type attack, releasing his arms, legs and head as he looked to his trainer, waiting for the order.
The trainer detected a sound within the woods, and the sound was getting louder and louder within the seconds, meaning that it was getting near.
*bush*
"..." The silent trainer looked at a certain point as he rested his back on a tree while still standing.
*bush, bush*
Red raised his hand, ready to order his Pokémon to attack. By now, the sound was really close to them.
*bush, bush, bush*
"Hydro Pump..." Red finally ordered his Pokémon to attack, pointing at the opposite direction of the sound.
The Pokémon didn't hesitate to obey his trainer's orders, and with his cannons unleashed the water-type attack, hitting at the exact point his trainer wanted him to attack. The curious thing about it was that at the precise moment Blastoise attacked, an even louder noise was heard from the point Red directed the attack. A silhouette could be seen escaping from the point the Hydro Pump collided.
"Nice try." Red said while grabbing the brim of his cap. "But it will take more than that to deceive me, other me."
"I had to try." A voice was heard from behind the tree Red was resting. Ash approached from behind and looked at Red. "But don't think that will be all."
"Hpmh..." Red smiled at his counterpart as he walked away from him and waited for the next move.
For a minute, everything went silent. Both trainers were waiting the perfect opportunity to make his move. Just wait for it...
"Flash Cannon..."
"Sceptile, use Quick Attack!"
Both Pokémon obeyed. Blastoise fired his attack, clashing to some trees nearby. However, due to the lizard's speed, he missed. Ash's Pokémon appeared behind his opponent and crashed his body against the Water-type. Blastoise, being taken by surprise, collapsed to the floor as he saw Sceptile returned to the trees and hide within them.
"Ok, now use Agility!"
Blastoise got up as he saw that the leaves within the trees were moving due to Sceptile's movement.
"Hydro Pump..."
The Water-type continued to attack the Pokémon, without getting any lucky shot. Now Sceptile was too fast for him to match his speed.
"Leaf Blade!"
Sceptile suddenly appeared next to Blastoise and slashed him. Due to the speed the lizard managed to pull out, the water-type couldn't help but back off and showing in his face that he actually felt pain by the attack. Sceptile grinned and returned to the woods once more, hiding within them.
"Yeah! Now that Sceptile is too fast for your Blastoise, we have the upper-hand!" Ash said as he looked to every single corner of the environment. "This is Sceptile's place. He gains more speed as long as he feels this sensation that only the forest can give him..."
"Hpmh..." Red grinned as he looked at Ash. "Very well, then. Let's change the battlefield again then. Blizzard..."
The turtle grinned, and from his mouth and both his cannons, a snowy storm came, covering the entire zone. With no problem, the battle field started to change its tone of colors. Now the green trees had become pure ice, the leaves became fragile crystals that fell to the now snowy floor from any single movement. Eventually, Sceptile's hideout was revealed.
"No way!"
"Now that he has nowhere to hide... Flash Cannon."
Blastoise stopped unleashing Blizzard and pointed at the lizard. Sceptile tried to move, but he was attached to the branches of the tree by ice. The attack was unleashed and hit directly at the lizard, which went flying due to the explosive attack. He collided with some trees before finally getting on his feet.
"Sceptile, are you ok?"
"Scep..."
"Now that everything's frozen, he cannot move like he did before. He may still have the trees, but they're now all frozen and slippery. It will be difficult for him to move as fast as before."
"..." Ash just looked down, his eyes weren't visible. Suddenly he smiled and raised his head.
"...?" Red was confused by his reaction.
"If that's the case, then I'll have to do that even earlier than I thought..."
Sceptile then appeared and nodded to its trainer. The Pokémon then began to jump within the trees, surrounding Blastoise.
"Sceptile, use Agility!"
"Hydro Pump..."
Blastoise continued his attack on the grass-type. The lizard increased his speed once more, managing to overcome the difficult situation he was into.
"Use Agility once more!"
The pressure in the air was starting to be felt.
"Agility again!"
The air was starting to form a tornado surrounding Blastoise.
"One more time! Agility and then Leaf Storm!"
Sceptile activated Agility one more time and, at the same time, leaves appeared from his back to unleash the grass attack. However, due to the great draft he created from his constant movement, the leaves started rotating as well, surrounding Blastoise. Also, all the ice and little crystal shards that were attached to the trees started also were affected by the draft and detached from the trees, following their path with the leaves. Now it looked like a big tornado of leaves and ice.
And Blastoise was in the middle of it.
"..." Red was looking everything calmed, but was taken by surprise due Ash's confusing strategy.
"Let me show you my new combo! Leaf Blade Storm: Infinity!"
Sceptile finally stopped running, and appeared from one of the corners, and with his Leaf Blades activated, he slashed Blastoise. He was so fast that he was barely visible. Just a green blur passing by.
The curious thing about it was that when Sceptile charged at Blastoise, parts of the ice shards and the Leaf Storm followed him, also colliding with the Water-type, making the attack even more devastating.
"GOOOOO!"
Sceptile continued his attack, jumping from the tree he landed and slashed Blastoise again, with the ice shards and the leaves also hitting. The attack was so fast that Blastoise didn't have time to react and received the attacks with a painful reaction. Then it was repeated, jumping from tree to tree, one slash per second was collided with Blastoise.
Slash, slash, slash, slash. The water type was slashed 10 times.
20 times.
30 times.
They even lost the count.
"...!" Red looked how his Pokémon was overpowered by the lizard's speed.
Sceptile appeared one last time under the turtle, making himself visible and, with all his might, slashed him once again, making him fly off the scene, heading to where Prof. Oak's lab was.
Meanwhile with the others...
"It's been quite a while. I'm wondering how they're doing..." Max said as he grabbed his glasses, worrying about the battle.
"Well, let's just hope that everything is going fine for Ash." May replied to her brother, confident that her crush would manage to pull out a good strategy to beat Blastoise.
And she was so right...
"Hey, what's that?" The voice of Brock was heard by the audience. "It seems that something's coming from the woods!"
"Who is it? Can you tell?" Dawn asked the Pokémon Doctor in training.
"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's coming pretty fast!" Brock said as he looked terrified as he saw the 'thing' coming faster. "Look out, everyone!"
Everyone moved from their places, as they saw a big Pokémon coming out of the woods. However, as he passed through them, they recognized it as Red's Pokémon, who was sent flying from the woods by something. They noticed the Pokémon had cuts all over his shell and also in his arms, legs and head. The turtle continue his track until he crashed with a rock nearby. Finally in the land, Blastoise fell as swirls formed in his eyes. Game over for him.
"No...way..." Everyone was shocked to see Blastoise's status.
"Scep...tile!"
They heard a voice from the woods and, as they turned their heads, they saw the green lizard breathing heavily, with scratches all over his body, but they weren't as big as Blastoise's. Sceptile stood firmly, as he looked at the floor and picked a stick and bit it with his mouth as he grinned.
"Blastoise cannot continue battling! The victory is for Sceptile!" Brock, as the referee, announced the winner of the battle.
"He did it!" Dawn jumped with joy.
"Amazing! That Sceptile sure has guts!" Misty noticed.
"So Ash managed to pull out a big one, huh? Impressive." Gary grinned as he looked at Sceptile.
"Talking about Ash...where is he?" May asked.
"I'm right here!"
They saw within the woods and, behind Sceptile, Ash appeared, waving at his friends. He looked at them with a big smile in his face, and he had a good reason. He just defeated Red's Blastoise, and his second victory against a Champion's Pokémon. As he approached them they saw that his clothes were really damaged and torn up.
"Ash, what the hell did you do to be like this?" Misty asked, yelling at his former travelling companion.
"I did a really crazy trick at the forest. It was wild, but ended up well..." Ash said while rubbing the back of his head.
"Ash! That was amazing!" Max approached his role model. "What strategy did you do, huh? Leaf Blade plus Quick Attack? Leaf Storm from under him? Or maybe...?"
"Relax, Max!" Ash laughed at the kid's reaction. "Remember that the battle is not over yet!"
"Speaking of that...what happened to Red?"
"RAWRRRRRRR!"
A big roar was heard coming from the woods. They looked at the place as they saw a big Flamethrower released to the sky, coming from the exact place they heard the noise. After that, they saw a silhouette coming from the sky.
"It's Charizard!" Max recognized the Pokémon.
"RAWRRRRR!"
The Pokémon reached where they were, as they saw the Kanto Champion jumping from its back and landing without difficulties at the floor. And his face showed no emotion as usual. He grabbed his Pokéball and returned his Blastoise to it.
"You have impressed me once more." Red said as he looked at the Pokéball of his fainted Pokémon. "However, since you wanted to speed things up, so do I."
"RAWRRRRRRR!" The dragon-like Pokémon, who was still flying, unleashed another Flamethrower to the sky.
"Krooko! KROOKODILE!" The dark type roared. His new rival was on the battlefield.
"Sorry Krookodile, but I've made my decision. I'll choose-"
"Sceptile!"
The green lizard interrupted his trainer, positioning in front of him and took a battle stance.
"Sceptile! Is this really what you want?" Ash asked to his Pokémon.
"Scep...TILE!" The Pokémon nodded as he grinned back at his trainer.
"...Ok then." Ash smiled after seeing the determination of his Pokémon. "I'll not force you to leave. I'll continue with Sceptile!"
"And my Pokémon will be Charizard..." Red replied.
Everyone returned to their respective places...
"The next battle will be between Ash's Sceptile and Red's Charizard! Are both contenders ready?" Brock returned to his position as referee as he announced the next battle.
"Always!/..."
"Very well then. BEGIN!"
"Charizard, activate it."
"Sceptile, use Leaf Blade!"
The green lizard jumped with an unbelievable speed, surprising all the audience, since they didn't saw how Sceptile managed to get that fast. Sceptile reached Charizard really fast, and slashed his left wing. However...
"Impressive, but not enough...Flamethrower."
Charizard began to be engulfed by a powerful red aura that resembled flames, as fire formed in his mouth.
"SCEPTILE!" Ash yelled to his Pokémon.
Charizard unleashed his attack, hitting directly at the green lizard. The Pokémon was sent back to the ground and crashed with it, cracking the ground as he was still being attacked by Charizard's Flamethrower.
"Sceptile, no!"
Ash ran to see his Pokémon, and saw his Sceptile badly hurt, with burns all over his body and in great pain. Ash then looked at Brock, and he understood the situation perfectly.
"Sceptile cannot continue battling. The victory is for Charizard!" Brock announced.
"No way..." Max said.
"The battle just started... and he's out?" Misty was shocked.
"That power boost..." Gary looked at the dragon-like Pokémon.
Ash returned Sceptile to his Pokéball and handed it to Brock. He then returned to his side on the field and saw Red's Charizard releasing Flamethrowers in different directions. He then looked at Red, who was already looking at him directly.
"How. Tell me." Ash said.
"I told you that I would also speed things up." Red replied calm as always.
"How was your Charizard able to do a Flamethrower as equal of powerful as Blast Burn?" Ash wanted an answer from Red.
"..." Red grabbed the brim of his cap and looked with a piercing look back at Ash. "That is...because Charizard can control his inner ability..."
"His inner ability?" Ash was confused but then realized what he meant. "No...way. Can he...?"
"Yes." The Kanto Champion looked to his Pokémon. "My Charizard can activate Blaze at any time."
In the next chapter...
Ash: He can activate Blaze….at will?!
Red: Something is bothering Charizard...
Ash: So the battle won't be as I expected.
May: Ash, don't panic! You still have a chance!
Pokémon: The Parallel Challenger
Chapter 9: Powerhouse
Ash: Go for all!
Red: Hpmh...
And that was it! Chapter 8 for you, my dear readers! I must day that I had a hard time thinking how this chapter would develop. I had lots of ideas and after I wrote some words, I deleted everything and started fresh. Also, due to college, I didn't have time to post earlier, but I'll try to post more frequently. Remember to read and review! See you in the next chapter!